Tag Archives: lines

Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: San Francisco, Photographs: Urban/Street

Tile and Concrete Wall

August 26, 2011 G Dan Mitchell 1 Comment

A weathered tile and concrete wall at Yerba Buena Gardens in San Francisco.

I’ll throw things a bit off-kilter here and interrupt the stream of landscape images from the Sierra Nevada with a minimalist photograph of a tile wall that I made while walking around in San Francisco in July. This may not be quite as simple a photograph as it first appears, and in larger version or print it becomes more apparent that the tiles are varied and weathered in interesting ways that produce a range of textures and colors.

I do a certain number of “minimalist” photographs – some of the urban landscape and others of the natural landscape and seascapes. Sometimes when I’m photographing some of the urban subjects I get some very strange looks from passers-by! I guess it must be hard to imagine why some guy with a fancy camera is pointing it straight at a wall in downtown San Francisco when so many other seemingly more compelling subjects are all around. Or else they might wonder if there is something there that they just don’t see.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, “California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra” (Heyday Books) is available directly from him.

All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: San Francisco, Photographs: Structures and Objects, Photographs: Urban/Street

Parking Lot Near Pier 48, Morning

July 15, 2011 G Dan Mitchell 2 Comments

Morning light on a large parking lot near Pier 48, San Francisco.

Continuing with the “urban landscape” theme, this is a photograph of a parking lot south of the bridge next to ATT Park and near the buildings of Pier 48 in San Francisco. After getting off the train that arrived in San Francisco at 7:00 a.m. and wandering over to Townsend Street, I decided to cross the what I think must be the Mission Bay inlet and take a look through this area which was rather deserted at this early hour. (Come back here before a Giants game, and the parking lot will be completely full of the cars of people who are willing to spend exorbitant amounts to park here.)

While there were cars in other portions of this parking lot that are closer to likely destinations, at this far end there was a single lonely car, and that seemed like it could be an anchor for a photograph of the lot, the tall streetlight poles, the industrial-looking buildings of Pier 48 and other assorted waterfront things. Because it was so early, the sun rising across the bay was filling the air with brilliant light that created a sky that was more white than blue.

In addition to the obvious crop, this image required other kinds of substantial work in post. The first issue was controlling the very brightest parts of the sky and a second was the follow-up need to then lighten a few other areas to get some detail back into the image. Color balance was a tricky thing – this isn’t that far from what the raw file contained, though I did warm the colors just a bit. I also did something in this image that I rarely do, namely use semi-opaque blurred and desaturated overlay layer of the original image to do, well, some stuff that is a bit hard to describe in written form. Suffice it to say that this had an effect on the parking lot and on the brightness of the sky.

Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Photographs: Architecture, Photographs: New York City, Photographs: Structures and Objects, Photographs: Urban/Street

People, MoMA

June 27, 2011 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

People moving on multiple levels of lobby and walkways at the Museum of Modern Art, New York.

I’ve been sitting on this photograph for a while, but I’ll interrupt the recent series of Sierra Nevada photographs to insert something more urban.

The photograph was made handheld inside a central atrium-like area of the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, a space from which layers of walkways could be seen. Although the slow shutter speed was somewhat a matter of necessity (but not totally) it also allowed me to let the moving figures blur, which suggests their motion more than would a faster shutter speed. I also removes the specific features of many of the closer people and lets them function more as generic figures in the image. There is more going on in the scene than might be apparent with a cursory glance.

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Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Photographs: Architecture, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: San Francisco, Photographs: Structures and Objects, Photographs: Textures, Photographs: Urban/Street

White Door and Wall

May 10, 2011 G Dan Mitchell 4 Comments

White door and stucco on a building in San Francisco, California.

As I photograph the various usual subjects that appear here, I always have a few background subjects that I’m always looking out for. One of my projects might be described as “urban minimalism,” featuring subjects from the urban environment that are very simple. This is probably about as minimalist as I can get with such images. (Though, now that I’ve written that, I’m starting to think of some even “more minimalist” possibilities. Funny.)

This one gets perilously close to the infamous “Polar Bear in Snowstorm” photo that people imagine from time to time. It is a white door in a white door frame against a white wall. Believe it or not, I had to go back and forth for a while to decide whether to print it in color or black and white – and, no, I’m not joking. Much of the image changes little when I switch between the two interpretations. However, there is a slight coloration to the “white” wall (that is almost certainly not displayed accurately on your monitor) and there is some real color on the metal security cover over the lock. But still… it is almost all shades of white in the end.

Photographer and visual opportunist. Daily photos since 2005, plus articles, reviews, news, and ideas.